


A Day Off

by Waitivau



Category: Bionicle - All Media Types
Genre: Gay Robots, M/M, Romantic Fluff, Stargazing, love is canon because i'm gay and i said so, my first fic! hope u enjoy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-14 14:32:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16042400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waitivau/pseuds/Waitivau
Summary: The King Root of the Morbuzakh is defeated. The Toa convince their leader Vakama to let them all take a day to rest before they present Turaga Dume with the six Kanoka Nui--the Great Disks--and Matau asks him to hang out.





	A Day Off

**Author's Note:**

> yes they have clothes, i'm basing them on just-rube's art (just-rube.tumblr.com/post/137872970513), and i headcanon that the clothing they were wearing when they became toa changed to fit them
> 
> also listen to our corner of the universe once they get on top of the building lol

The six Toa Metru conversed in a lightstone-lit courtyard in Ta-Metru. They had just sealed a leak in the Fikou Web sector of the Archives, facing off against the second monstrosity in a couple days; first the destructive Morbuzakh, then the shapeshifting Krahka. The Toa were debating what their next move should be as Vakama raised a hand in a feeble attempt to get in a word. Nokama, having been a teacher until about a month ago, nodded to him. “Vakama?”

Vakama cleared his throat as the rest of the Toa Metru quieted down and looked at him. “I really don’t think we should take this day off. The sooner we have Turaga Dume and the Vahki behind us, the sooner we can find Toa Lhikan and make Metru Nui safe.”

Whenua closed his eyes and nodded slightly, but Onewa furrowed his brows and crossed his arms. “I think we’ve earned one day, fire-spitter," began the Toa of Stone. "I’m as anxious as you to take on responsibility, but we’ve been going non-stop for weeks now. We almost got torched on two separate occasions. Nokama almost got eaten by a leviathan, and we’ve all been almost arrested at least once each. We’ve spent more time in the Archives in the last week than anyone other than Whenua has in the last year. If anything goes wrong at the Coliseum, I don’t think I could handle it.”

Nuju nodded. “I agree. Dealing with Krahka was…” he shut his eyes for a moment, ”...a lot. We’re not exactly in the best state to speak with the Turaga.”

Matau slipped around Onewa to stand next to Vakama and put an arm around him. “Besides, Dume loud-called for that assembly soon! If we wait, we can make our first appearance in front of the entire city!” He sighed, resting his head on Vakama’s and extending his other arm dramatically. Vakama quickly slipped out of his grasp, and the Toa of Air met his gaze and smiled genuinely. “Imagine it! Plus, this way I can hard-scrub the Morbuzakh ash off my mask.”

Nuju tilted his head slightly. “I was referring to our mental states--I can only speak for myself, but I’d like a day to decompress--but yes, I’d like to clean my armor as well. I didn’t know so many rahi in the Archives produced so many distinct types of slime.”

Whenua nodded in agreement. “Yeah, lava eel slime is not good for you. We should really rinse that off before it gets hard.”

Vakama shifted his weight anxiously as Nokama piped up. “I know you really don’t want to keep Lhikan waiting,” she said with an apologetic grimace, “but the others do have a point. We want to give Turaga Dume the best first impression.”

“What do you say, fire-spitter?” Matau nudged Vakama’s side.

Sighing, he looked around the circle, scanning the dusty, filthy, beat-up, visibly tired toa. They were right, their group looked like it had been crammed in a dumpster for a week. “Alright. We meet at the Coliseum the morning after tomorrow.”

Vakama watched a wave of relief wash over the Toa Metru as they allowed themselves to relax for the first time in weeks. Even Onewa was smiling at the Toa of Fire. They quickly exchanged goodbyes and took off for their own districts, but Matau hung around. As Vakama turned to leave, Matau reached his arm out to grab Vakama’s, but hesitated and instead only called his name. “Vakama, wait!”

Vakama stopped and looked at Matau. “Yes, Matau?”

Matau held one arm with his other. “I relax by being with others. Would you want to meet up tomorrow? I could show you Le-Metru or something.”

Vakama scanned Matau’s face, finding it hard to lock on to his eyes. He thought for a moment. If he spent tomorrow by himself, he’d probably go crazy with anxiety about Toa Lhikan, and he liked Matau, even if he was a bit much at times. He hadn’t been able to spend much time with any of his new teammates other than Onewa, so he mimicked Matau’s nervous smile. “I’d… I’d like that.”

Matau’s smile widened and his brows shot upwards. “Really? Ever-great! I can pick you up! Where do you live?”

* * *

 

That night, Vakama returned to his home for the first time since he became a Toa. Everything seemed a little too small now--he had never noticed the height of his ceiling, but now he had to duck to not crack his mask on the door frames. However, his new size didn’t stop him from curling up on his bed pallet and dozing off immediately. He slept for longer than he had in a long time.

When he awoke, it was already well past noon. He threw his clothes in the wash with the rest of his dirty laundry--not that any of his old clothing would fit anymore, only one outfit had changed sizes when he was transformed into a Toa--and hopped in the shower. After an hour of scrubbing his armor clean, he threw on his pants and jacket. He had only spent a few minutes wondering what to do with his free time before a little buzz came from the front hallway. A look through the peephole showed the tall, green form of Toa Matau.

“Happy-greetings, fire-spitter!” Matau exclaimed as Vakama opened the door. “Had a relaxing day, I hope?”

“Yes, I’d say I have,” Vakama replied, clanking his own fist against Matau’s outstretched one, “considering I only woke up an hour ago.”

Matau let out a single, sharp peal of laughter. “You too, huh? I’ve only been bright-awake for two. I guess one needs extra beauty sleep to maintain the Toa-hero look.”

Vakama smiled. “Or maybe you all were right about this day off. Are you ready to show me Le-Metru?”

Matau flashed a wide grin and spun on his heel. “Your carriage awaits!”

Chuckling, Vakama followed Matau outside and locked his door, then turned to see Matau’s transport; while it was a relatively large moto-bike, its long, saddle-like seat was made for a pair of matoran--not a pair of toa.

Matau saw Vakama examining his bike and crossed his arms proudly. “Ever-beautiful, isn’t she? The prototype was the first thing I didn’t crash-wreck, so they kind-gave me the finished version.”

“Impressive,” Vakama chuckled. “But, um, will it fit both of us?”

“I hope-think so,” Matau said with a shrug, then climbed aboard. “Only one way to find out, right? You’re sitting second.”

Vakama stepped forwards and carefully climbed on behind Matau. The collapsible armrests weren’t wide enough to accommodate his larger Toa frame, so he felt a bit wobbly without anything to hold on to. “Are there any seatbelts?” The red Toa inquired.

“Not really,” he said softly, “not since we became Toa-heroes.” He turned his head back to look at Vakama. “You can grab-hold on to me if you’d like.”

Vakama put his arms around Matau’s waist. He was leaning forwards and holding on to his own forearms without actually touching him, not wanting to intrude on the Toa of Air’s personal space and embarrass himself. He watched Matau look down at the red arms hovering around his torso, then shake his head and laugh.

“That’s not going to safe-help you if we crash-wreck, Vakama. Scoot near-close,” he said teasingly, and he grabbed Vakama’s arms and secured them around his chest.

“I thought you were a test driver, I was relying on you not crashing us,” Vakama contested, but he didn’t remove his arms. He slid forwards in his seat until his chest almost met Matau’s back as the green Toa twisted the throttle and the moto-bike came to life. Matau settled in his seat--which is to say, he leaned back into the Toa of Fire’s embrace.

Neither Toa said a word. They sat there for a moment, listening to the droning hum of the bike and feeling each other’s breathing. Vakama tightened his grip around Matau’s jacket slightly. The Toa of Air pushed his body further back into Vakama’s, and from behind, the red Toa saw a ghost of a smile form on the green one’s mask.

They embraced like this for another few moments, just existing in each other’s space, taking in each other’s warmth, until Matau pulled away the slightest amount.

“Ready to go?” Matau said gently, as if nothing had just happened.

Vakama hummed in approval, and the moto-bike hummed in response as it lifted from the Ta-Metru courtyard and sped off over streets, past foundries and matoran residences until they crossed a trans-district bridge and the deep red of Ta-Metru gave way to the lighter gray-green of Le-Metru.

As they cruised through the bustling district, Matau pointed out landmarks and told stories of his experiences at each: the time he dropped a box of pipes off that balcony and destroyed a Vorzakh, the time he punctuated an argument by chute jumping by that statue of Turaga Dume, the nest of baby phase dragons he took care of below that bridge. Vakama was listening, but most of his mind was taken up by the thought of how close he was to Matau. He had worked in his foundry alone for most of his life, and had never really had casual time with others. He had never held someone for even close to this long.

* * *

 

Through the chattering of Le-Matoran and Le-Toa and the ambient thrumming of airships, chutes, and other machinery, Vakama heard a not-so-distant rumbling. His hand immediately went for his disk launcher before he realized that it was only thunder.

“Dark-luck. Sounds like it’s going to rain,” Matau said, interrupting his own tale of escaping a force sphere.

Vakama pointed to a hangar up ahead. “We could park under there and wait it out, although it looks like the rain might beat us there.”

“Good eye, fire-spitter!” Matau said, pulling the moto-bike off to the right.

Vakama was right; by the time they pulled up to the towering building, not only was it pouring, but the owners of the hangar shut the door. Matau kept going for another kio before finding a covered alleyway and powering down the moto-bike. The pair of Toa dismounted.

“I wish I didn’t slow-waste so much time showering. I could have just gone for a think-walk here.” Matau removed his jacket and wrung the water out of it, sending a small stream to the damp ground. Vakama, spotting a small recycling dumpster with a base covered in paper, got an idea. He reached in and crumpled up a few sheets in his hand and tossed them to the alley floor.

“What are you doing?” Matau asked, putting his damp jacket back on.

“We’re toa, remember?” Vakama said with a satisfied grin as he snapped his fingers and the paper ignited. Already, a dry circle was growing around the flames.

Matau clapped his hands together. “Oho! I knew I picked the right Toa-hero to spend my day with!”

As Vakama lowered himself down beside the fire, Matau ducked into the dumpster and gathered more paper, then dropped to his knees beside Vakama. The Toa of Fire watched the light of his flames dance across the other toa’s mask, illuminating his face as he yawned.

“So how’d your and Onewa’s Kanoka Nui go?”

Vakama raised his eyebrows and shrugged. Both were pretty rough: The Ta-Metru great disc was down a fire pit that almost incinerated both Vakama and an innocent matoran, and his reconstitute-at-random Kanoka created a mutant Morbuzakh vine that hopefully died off with the rest of the King Root. In Po-Metru, they toppled a sculpture and were almost buried. He was embarrassed of how much better they could have gone, and felt like he could have led their little squad better.

“Fine. How was yours? Nokama’s?”

“Wild! Mine was caught-stuck in the Notch--you know, that chute-knot--and was pulled into a force sphere, so I had to fast-chase it before the force sphere collapsed! I barely got out after I quick-grabbed it!” Matau punctuated his own part of the story by smashing his fists together and sputtering a wobbly explosion sound effect, evidently the noise a force sphere makes when it implodes. “And Nokama’s Kanoka, it was in the deep-dark below the Great Temple. We had to quiet-sneak around because there was a Vahki squad stalk-searching for power-strong strangers. I had to distract some mind-snatched Ga-Matoran on the way. Then Nokama told me that an ever-ugly fish-monster had the Kanoka and she had to outswim it, near-close call.”

“Wow, I’m impressed!” Vakama stifled a laugh as Matau crossed his arms over his puffed-out chest and turned his head in a heroic pose. Vakama felt better, now that he knew his group wasn’t the only one with near-death experiences. Maybe it wasn’t his fault after all, and it was just part of the job. Vakama wasn’t sure how Lhikan did it alone for so long. Comforted, Vakama began to retell his own encounters and heart-stoppers in greater detail--with all the drama he could muster--as the airships droning in the distance, the rain pelting the street, and the fire crackling between the two all faded into the background.

* * *

 

Eventually, the conversation came to a natural end, and the pair of Toa realized:

“Hey, the hard-rain stopped!” Vakama watched as Matau stood and strode to the edge of the alleyway. “Want to keep going?”

“Sure,” Vakama agreed with a smile and extinguished what was left of their fire. Matau flitted back to the Toa of Fire and helped him to his feet, neither seemed to notice that they kept hold of each other’s hands until they climbed aboard Matau’s moto-bike. As they left the alley behind them, Vakama gazed up at the now-night sky.

“Wow…” Vakama breathed, “the stars are so bright.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes! I mean, I’ve lived in Ta-Metru all my life, and the smog usually makes the sky flat and gray at night. And since we became Toa, I’ve spent almost all my time back there or down in the Archives.”

Matau tilted his head. “Weren’t you in Po-Metru with Onewa?”

“Yes, but I was a little preoccupied with Ahkmou and the Kanoka Nui.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” the Toa of Air said. He was silent for a moment, then spoke again. “Want to get a better close-look at the sky?”

Vakama raised his eyebrows. “Sure, what do you have in mind?”

“I can take us top-city! Hold close-tight!”

Vakama scooted closer to Matau and tightened his embrace around him as the Toa of Air pulled back on the handlebars of the moto-bike. The skyscrapers began to fall away as the bike shot through the air to the peak of an angular building with a flat top.

The bike’s low bass hum faded as the bike drifted downwards and alighted atop the roof, giving way to the distant sounds of the city. Vakama’s already wide eyes grew ever wider as he took in the view. Hundreds of stars twinkled in each inch of the sky, almost entirely unobstructed, save for the Coliseum and a handful of other buildings here and there. Vakama’s eyes traced a path across the night sky, following the band of light of a galaxy. He lowered himself down and sat on the edge of the platform atop the roof. Subtle colors bled through the scattered lights, far more than Vakama had noticed ever before.

Vakama managed to tear his eyes away from the sky and smiled at Matau, who had sat down to his left. Even away from the lights of the city below, he could see the Toa of Air smiling back.

“Thank you, Matau,” Vakama said softly, “this is amazing.”

“No problem, fire-spitter!” Matau replied, crossing his arms and hunching his shoulders.

Vakama realized that Matau didn’t have the natural body heat of a Ta-Matoran. “You’re cold. Take my jacket,” he said with a hint of concern in his voice, beginning to undo the buttons.

Matau raised his palm to reject it. “Nah, keep it.”

Vakama paused, then hummed in acknowledgement and re-buttoned the jacket. He was disappointed that Matau refused his gesture, and looked back out over the sea of city lights and the infinite expanse of stars. He had only been looking for a few moments before he felt Matau push closer, up against Vakama’s body.

Vakama raised his arm from between the two and placed it around Matau’s shoulders, pulling him closer. He felt Matau shift slightly, then felt a hand brush against his unoccupied right one. Vakama gently took it in his own. He felt Matau trace slow circles with his thumb on the back of Vakama’s own hand. After a few moments, he felt the Toa of Air’s head rest on his shoulder.

They sat like this for a time, listening to the distant bustle of the city--feeling the rise and fall of each other’s breathing and their own heartbeats. Eventually, Vakama felt the pressure of Matau’s head leave his shoulder.

“Hey,” Matau said, so quietly that Vakama almost missed it.

“Hmm?” Vakama turned his head the slightest bit and looked down to Matau. His eyes met the Toa of Air’s. Behind the reflection of the innumerable stars in the visor of his mask, Matau’s brilliant scarlet eyes glowed in the darkness. Vakama could see his pupils quiver as he scanned Vakama’s mask. He blinked slowly.

Vakama’s heartbeat drummed as he felt his head drift towards Matau’s. He let his eyelids fall, and then felt Matau’s hand move from Vakama’s own hand to the Toa of Fire’s neck, pulling him even closer. The distant sounds of Le-Metru seemed even further as he felt Matau’s breath on his face. Their masks touched with a soft clunk and their lips met. Putting his hand on Matau’s chin, Vakama kissed him deeply. Matau returned the kiss immediately, slipping his hand down the back of Vakama's neck to his upper back, pulling the two so close that their heartlights touched. Vakama pulled his head back and opened his eyes, seeing Matau do the same. They gazed into each other's eyes for a moment, then Vakama leaned back in and kissed Matau's forehead.

"Thank you," Vakama breathed, resting his chin on Matau's forehead. "This is the best day I've had in a long, long time."

Matau sat up and kissed the center of Vakama's mask, then rested his head back on Vakama's left shoulder, rubbing the other with his hand. "You too, fire-spitter."


End file.
